New York grapples with growing presence of homeless in midtown Manhattan

New York grapples with growing presence of homeless in midtown Manhattan

NEW YORK - An influx of homeless people into Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood after an emergency move by New York City to ease crowding in shelters has been a fact of pandemic life for the neighborhood since last spring. Many of the newcomers, living in nearby hotel rooms contracted by the city, have been largely inconspicuous. But others with mental health and drug problems have become a growing presence in Hell's Kitchen and adjacent Times Square. As the city looks to welcome back tourists and office workers a with the pandemic lifting, the complaints have grown louder. A city with people camped on sidewalks is much different than the one suburban commuters left when they started working from home as much of the country locked down in March 2020. "They make me feel like I wish I could do something," said Rachel Goldstein, an IT director, as she emerged from Penn Station, a major rail hub, last week for her first on-site workday since the pandemic began. Giselle Routhier, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless advocacy group, faulted the state and city for not providing enough mental health services and for "shuffling people" between locations. "What we actually